Safavids
1501-1736 AD
Safavid state (دولت صفویه) (1501-1736). The founder of the state was Ismail I (1501-1524), the head of the Shiite Sufi religious order of the Sefaviye. With the help of his devoted followers, members of the order, the Turkic Qizilbash, he recaptured Azerbaijan from the Ak-Koyunlu state, in 1501 he declared himself Shah and proclaimed Shiism the state religion. Over the next 10 years, he managed to conquer all of Iran and inflict a heavy defeat on the Sheibanid Uzbeks, who constantly raided the newborn state. The Battle of Chaldyran in 1514 put an end to his conquests, in which the Qizilbash were defeated by the troops of the Ottoman Sultan Selim I. Later, it was the Ottomans who became the worst enemies of the Safavids: during their reign there were five Turkish-Persian wars. The successor of Ismail, Tahmasp I, despite external and internal (internecine struggle of the Kyzylbash leaders) threats, for 52 years managed to save the state from collapse, spread Shiism in it and establish friendly relations with another great power of that time - the state of the Great Moghuls. But the real flourishing of the Safavid empire was under the grandson of Tahmasp Abbas I (1587-1629), as indicated by his nickname - the Great. He managed to subdue the recalcitrant Kyzylbash leaders, defeat both the Uzbeks and the Ottomans, returning the previously lost lands, expel the Portuguese from the Persian Gulf, improve the economic situation in the country, develop trade and establish diplomatic relations with European countries, including Russia. Under him, the Safavid state stretched from Diyarbakir (today Turkey) in the west to Kandahar in the east, and from the Caucasus in the north to Baghdad in the south. The legacy left by Abbas allowed his descendants to rule Iran for almost a hundred more years, periodically fighting the Ottomans, Uzbeks and the Mughals. But the descendants could not compare in grandeur with Abbas and at the beginning of the 18th century. the decline of the state began to become noticeable. It got to the point that in 1722 the Afghans from the Ghilzai tribe, who rebelled against the cruel Safavid governor, captured the capital of the empire, Isfahan, without significant resistance and announced the establishment of their dynasty. However, they did not last long: in 1729, Nadir Khan, who was on the side of the Safavids in exile, expelled them from Iran, and later became Shah himself (1736-1747). Nadir Shah also ruled for a short time, 11 years, and after his death, the Zend dynasty came to power. Formally, the Safavids ruled in different parts of Iran until 1765, but they no longer had real power, being under the control of other rulers. The rule of the Safavids was a turning point in the history of Iran. On the one hand, it was under them that Iran became Shia, and Shiism became part of Iran's identity. On the other hand, it was under the Safavids that Iran took shape within the borders that it still has today. Like other Iranian monarchs, the Safavids actively patronized various arts. At the same time, unlike the same Timurids, they were more interested in architecture and applied arts - literature in Persian in Safavid Iran rather stagnated, developing in the Mughal Empire in India. With the advent of the Qizilbash dynasty, a new era began in Iranian architecture, the main evidence of which is Isfahan, which became the capital under Abbas and completely rebuilt by him with an outstanding ensemble of Naqsh-e Jahan square. The art of Persian book miniatures was further developed with the help of Timurid masters (including Behzad), who fled to the Safavids after the fall of the Timurid Empire. A striking example of this art is the Shahnameh, created under Shah Tahmasp. Under the Safavids, the art of carpet weaving also gained particular popularity, turning from the work of tribal artisans practically into a national industry: Persian carpets became known both in Europe and in Asia. A significant number of elements of today's Iranian culture appeared precisely under the Safavids.